Veteran Shawon Dunston, once a shortstop capable of making spectacular plays and now a center fielder, commented on the balance of the Mets.

“Lotta MVPs on this team,” Dunston said. “But you know who my choice is: The shortstop.”

Dunston is so impressed with Rey Ordonez, his teammate since the trading deadline, that when asked about the spectacular play Ordonez made to retire Matt Williams in the sixth inning, Dunston smiled and shook his head.

“Oh that? Routine. Routine,” Dunston said, meaning by the standards Ordonez has set for himself the play was nothing special.

Ordonez slid to the ball hit in the hole, bounced onto his feet and zipped a clothesline throw from his back foot to John Olerud in time to retire Williams and trigger yet another ovation from a Shea Stadium crowd that never grows tired of watching the shortstop with uncanny reflexes.

His ability to make such strong throws from less than ideally balanced positions is as remarkable as the quickness of his hands.

“I pitched in Little League,” he said. “Threw hard, but I had no chance as a pitcher. They made me a shortstop.”

Why?

“Quick hands,” he said. Ordonez has been wowing crowds with his glove his entire life. It’s at the plate that he has shown the most improvement of late, particularly in clutch situations.

In the final weeks of a tight race, Ordonez never stopped hitting, even when most of his teammates grew cold during a seven-game losing streak.

Ordonez batted .333 in the final 15 games of the regular season and he produced another big hit in last night’s 9-2 win over the Diamondbacks in Game 3 of a best-of-five Division Series the Mets could clinch with a victory today.

Ordonez lined a two-out single to right to break a scoreless tie in the second inning and executed a sacrifice bunt that advanced Todd Pratt into scoring position early in the six-run sixth inning that put the game away for the Mets.

Throughout his minor league days with the Mets, the word on Ordonez was that he was one hitter with the bases empty, another, better hitter in clutch situations.

His reputation as a clutch hitter is growing.

“I concentrate better and I don’t try to do too much,” Ordonez said.

Ordonez hit .440 against the Diamondbacks during the regular season and is batting .300 in the Division Series.